


On "Suffering"

by EternalBroZone



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Attempted Murder, Drowning, Gen, Kidnapping, Rose | Chairman Rose Being an Asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22831159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalBroZone/pseuds/EternalBroZone
Summary: "He's just a kid, Rose--""The one you want is me.""Hop!"
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	On "Suffering"

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up from this particular nightmare in the middle of the night, vomited this onto the page, and now here we are. My brain is so weird.
> 
> Screw Rose.

He wasn’t used to being manhandled. Not since he’d outgrown Leon, anyway.

  
“Get the hell off me!”

  
The man that had attacked him in the street placed a heavy foot on his back to tie his ankles together. The sensation was not unlike getting caught in vines, though with this, no matter how much he kicked and fought, he knew his legs wouldn’t come free. Still, he did his best, and managed to hit the guy in the gut with one solid kick before his head was slammed into the nearby wall, dazing him.

  
“Behave yourself, kid, this isn’t about you. Come on, let’s go.”

  
He was hoisted off the ground with one arm, and he barely had time to panic before the unfamiliar feeling of being teleported overcame him, sending his stomach into knots. He must have had a psychic type somewhere off to the side where it couldn’t be seen.

  
When the world settled, he fell face-first into familiar-smelling grass and dirt, cursing loudly as his glasses pushed painfully into the wrong part of his nose.

  
“Look, arsehole—”

  
“Hop?”

  
His words caught in his throat at the sound of distress in his usually unflappable older brother’s voice. He pushed himself up on his knees, shaking his head slightly to adjust his glasses without his hands, and looked up at the scene before him.

  
Leon was kneeling on the ground a few feet away, partially in the shadow of the altar of the Slumbering Weald. He looked to be in a similar state as he was—hands and legs bound behind him, and a little beat up from what it took to get him there. His hat was missing. He caught sight of wild movement from just off to the side, and glanced over to see somebody standing over a thrashing, pissed-looking Raihan, tied rather securely to a tree just a bit away from where they were. His arms were stretched around the trunk in a manner that looked pretty painful, though the way he was straining to pull his arms or legs free looked like it was only making it worse. He was definitely bleeding. There was also something tied around his mouth, unlike himself or Leon, that was only mostly doing its job of muffling whatever he was trying to scream at the man above him.

  
When Hop managed to identify him, his heart stopped.

  
Rose.

  
He was pretty sure he’d heard four men behind him. One of them stepped forward, just barely into the corner of his sight.

  
“We couldn’t get the other ex-champion, sir,” he said, folding his arms. “Caught wind that they just left for some other region. Won’t be bothering us.”

  
He and Leon shared a relieved look. They would be safe, then.

  
“Oh, well. We’ll just take care of that little dilemma later. For now, three out of four isn’t bad. Keep your eyes on them. Especially that one,” Rose sneered, gesturing to Raihan. “He’s particularly violent.”

  
Based on the way that Rose gingerly rubbed his arm and the satisfied look in Raihan’s eyes, Hop guessed that he had bitten him—that would also explain the gag.

  
“What’s going on?” He dared to murmur to Leon.

  
Leon looked completely wrecked. The bruise under his eye brought how pale he looked in the light into stark relief, and Hop shivered. He’d never seen him like this.

  
“I don’t know.”

  
Rose turned on his heel and stalked over to them, hands held out with palms up. “Leon’s little brother! So glad you could join us. Big brother here has missed you so.”

  
“What do you want with us?” Leon asked, voice hoarse.

  
“I only want what anybody wants, really.” He grabbed Leon’s hair and pulled upwards—he barely stifled a yelp. “Revenge, young one.”

  
Hop felt something stir in his chest. He needed to get Rose’s attention away from Leon. “Revenge for what, dickhead? Stopping you from destroying the region in your haste to solve a problem that didn’t even exist yet? Yeah, brilliant plan. Also, when did you get out of jail?”

  
“You’re still so talkative,” Rose sighed, shaking his head. “I had hoped the years would have perhaps leveled you all out. It seems the opposite.”

  
“I am leveled out,” Hop glared. He shifted his weight onto one leg. Maybe if he was fast enough… “But you’re touching my brother, and that’s going to be your last mistake once I get out of here.”

  
He grinned. Hop felt someone grab his bound arms from behind him, and he realized that the purpose was to hold him down as Rose’s foot connected with the side of Leon’s face. His brother hadn’t made a sound—but Raihan was screaming something, muffle not quite enough to mask the long string of vulgarities flying around, and Hop had involuntarily called out, trying to pull his arms free.

  
“Let me go!”

  
He knelt down and caught Leon by the hair again, yanking hard enough to lift his face to his level. He glanced over at Hop, then looked between them. 

  
“You know,” Rose said easily, eyes firmly on Leon’s, “I’m getting ahead of myself, here. The point of this is that you suffer, so why am I letting the child get under my skin? … I’d say there’s an easy solution, isn’t there? Yes, indeed…”

  
He dropped Leon, who fell back to his side with the barest of whimpers, and stalked over to Hop, gesturing for the man holding him to lift him. Once they’d managed to get his feet under him, Rose grabbed him by the neck and squeezed. Hop hacked out a cough in surprise.

  
“What—” He croaked, the air already mostly gone from his lungs. He couldn’t even reach up to pull his arm back. His head ached.

  
“Stop!” Leon cried. He pushed himself to his knees. “Don’t hurt him!”

  
Rose instead tightened his grip. Hop could hear what limited breath he had left come in wheezes. Gray fuzzed at the edge of his vision.

  
“Please,” his brother begged, shaking his head. “Please, Rose, he’s just a kid.”

  
At that, Rose released him, and he fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

  
He hummed, staring down at them. “Quite right. It wouldn’t be very sporting of me to just kill him, would it? So, then, it’ll be your Champion, will it?”

  
Hop felt a few stray tears slip from his eyes as he gathered himself, glancing over to Raihan. He’d gone completely still, a shocking difference from just moments before.

  
Leon shot his best friend a panicked glance, then looked back to Rose. “No. Rose, nobody has to die. Please, you want revenge, then take it on me. Leave them out of it.”

  
“Ah, but they played their roles, didn’t they? Good little sheep. And now they’re here to play for me. Choose. You’ve never seemed to care about the consequences of your actions or the people it could affect before now.”

  
“Please—”

  
“Make your choice, Leon!” Rose shifted his weight onto one leg, eyes dark. “Choose who lives and dies, or I’ll make the choice for you.”

  
The last time Hop had seen his brother cry, they had been children. Leon had gotten lost wandering through Circhester with his family, and when they found him, he was in tears. Hop had been, too, thinking his big brother was gone forever. But now, he sobbed openly, unable to look up or even wipe his own tears. He was completely helpless.

  
They all were.

  
“I don’t know what to say to make you feel better,” he managed. “Rose, I’m sorry my decision hurt you. But this isn’t the way to deal with it. You can’t.”

  
Rose sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Oh, Leon… I can. And I will. Bring the boy.”

  
“No!”

  
Hop was hoisted up by the neck of his shirt and dragged over to where Rose stood by the altar, arms crossed. One of the men was somehow managing to hold Leon down, and the only thought crossing through Hop’s mind was that he’d once been so sure his brother was the strongest person in the world. Now, he would probably have to be.

  
His mind was static—Rose said something across his shoulder to Leon and Raihan, who had taken up struggling again with new fervor, before turning to him. He pulled a gun out of his pocket. Hop couldn’t even move. Couldn’t make a sound.

  
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not going to shoot you. In fact, I won’t even be the one to kill you,” Rose smiled, and it was too fake, too kind, too convincing. “… You are. I had to think to myself, what’s the most painful way to die? What is the worst to watch? And then I realized, the answer is right here in front of me.”

  
He gestured vaguely to all the water around them. That’s when Hop’s stomach sank.

  
“The key to Leon’s suffering is to ensure yours,” he said easily. “So here’s my choice. I’m going to drop you into the river, and you’re not going to surface. If you do, I’ll shoot all three of you. If you don’t, I’ll let them go. Sound fair?”

  
Hop side-eyed the river where it joined the lake with a shaky breath. He glanced over at his brother, at his brother’s best friend, and hoped that his expression didn’t betray what was going on. They were fighting for him. It was his turn to fight for them.

  
He turned back to Rose and nodded shakily. Someone freed his arms and legs.

  
Rose grinned. “Excellent.”

  
He fell backwards into the water, only managing to catch a breath by gasping from the shock of it actually happening. He stopped sinking a few feet down, and then automatically started to float back up. He released some air and twisted to swim away from the surface, mind reeling. It would be easy to make it back up, but then where would they be? Maybe he could go hide in the lake, make his escape, and come back with the police.

  
No time. Even on the off chance he could make it out without being spotted, without the guide of the path, he’d get lost in the Slumbering Weald forever. And besides… based on the way Rose’s wavering form was watching him through the water, it looked like he was going to want to see it happen.

  
Hop would have cried if he could. The pressure on his lungs was starting to get unpleasant. He could still reach the surface. He swam lower. He had to make sure that he drowned.

  
For their sake.

  
His chest tightened, and a few bubbles escaped him, rising to the surface. He needed to breathe. 

  
_Help_.

  
He needed to breathe, oh god, he was going to die. He didn’t want to die. He put both hands to his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut.

  
_Help me._

  
There was the sound of rushing water, and then he was laying on something in the open air. He uncovered his mouth and nose, arms laying limply over the side of the creature that had brought him to the surface, and gasped for air, coughing up the slight bit of water he had swallowed.

  
He heard Rose scream from far away, and the thing under him moved, carrying him with it. Four more voices. One splash. Hop opened his eyes, vision hazy. The five men that had attacked them were cowering on the ground, guarded by a large, familiar-looking Pokémon. It snarled at them. 

  
Zamazenta.

  
His fingers clutched in the fur of the one that had saved him gratefully.

  
“Zacian…” He managed, smiling tiredly. “Thank you.”

  
It made a low rumbling sound, and then something like a bark. Hop blinked his eyes open and slid off its back wobbly, wiping the water from his face. He reached out to place a hand on Zacian’s nose—it nudged into the touch, then walked alongside him as he stumbled over to Leon.

  
“Lee—”

  
“Hop!” He sobbed, shoulders shaking. Zacian blinked, and the restraints holding him were gone. It wandered over towards where Raihan was just as Leon surged forward to hug him. He rubbed a hand up and down his brother’s back to try and calm him, but wasn’t making much headway as he was crying, himself. “Oh, god, Hop, I thought I’d lost you. My little brother. My Hopscotch.”

  
He sniffled. “It’s okay. I’m okay. We’re—we’re gonna be okay.”

  
They held each other for another long moment. Eventually, Leon leaned back, wiping the tears and snot from his own face. He glanced up and silently held an arm out, smiling shakily. Raihan stepped into his field of vision and knelt down, scooping them both into a tight hug. Hop hiccupped, hiding his eyes in Raihan’s collar so that he wouldn’t have to think about the cuts and bruises and patches of raw-rubbed skin all up and down his arms.

  
Raihan hadn’t cried. When Hop looked up, he was staring darkly across the clearing at where Rose and the other four were. His eyes were wet, but he looked… angry. More than anything, he looked like he wanted to fight them.

  
“Rai…”

  
“I know,” he murmured, the gentleness of his voice at odds with the emotion in his eyes. “You two stay here, yeah? I’m gonna go call for help.”

  
He gave the men a wide berth as he jogged towards Postwick. Zacian followed him out, and Hop’s nerves calmed a bit. He placed a hand on Leon’s arm.

  
“You okay?”

  
Leon nodded. “I will be. You?”

  
He hoped he could disguise the tremor in his hand as a shiver from the cold.

  
“… Yeah.”


End file.
